Hello all: I'm relatively new to fountain pens, but I have enough experience with them to know when they aren't working correctly, and want to inquire how to repair the issue I'm seeing.

I bought off pentrace a Spalding Aluminum Mini, a very small pen suitable for the smallest of pockets. I wasn't expecting it to be the greatest writer ever, and doing continuous strokes (figure 8's & cursives) it works fine except for being a bit scratchy. However, when I start the downstroke on my printed "t", it'll skip the upper portion of the vertical line. I've tried it by just doing downstrokes repeatedly, and it consistently misses the upper 1/2 to 3/4 of the stroke. This exhibits itself on all kinds of paper, including Clairefontaine.

I've flushed and soaked the nib multiple times, and it didn't help. One thing I noticed is that the "sweet spot" seems to be very tight, both in terms of the vertical angle to the paper, as well as left and right. It also seems to flow better if I held the pen rotated slightly counterclockwise, so that the left side of the nib hits the paper first.

Being a bit of a DIY person, is this something I can try to fix myself? It isn't an expensive purchase, so I'm not even sure it'll be worth the repair cost, if not for the fact that I hate to see the pen's purpose unfulfilled.

Fountain pens are relatively finicky instruments, subject to paper, ink, and hand variations. I'm wondering what is the customary expectation of such a used pen transaction on pentrace. What can a buyer expect in terms of recourse from the seller?

Thanks,

William
Seattle, Washington.

Hi William,

You may want to check the tines of the nib with a loupe/magnifying glass. They should be in alignment with each other. If they are out of alignment, you can use your finger nail to gently move the nibs in alignment. I do it with ink in the pen and check it every little adjustment I make.

See if that resolves the issue.

Al